Pretoria – The Department of Social Development says it will focus its resources on putting in place a comprehensive Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme, which covers the period from conception to formal school going age.
Delivering her department’s R128-billion budget in Parliament on Wednesday, Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini said a national audit of 19 900 ECD facilities conducted by the department throughout the country revealed the need for training of ECD practitioners and accessibility for children with disabilities, lack of proper infrastructure and overcrowding, among others.
“We found that 44% of the ECDs were unregistered,” Minister Dlamini said.
The minister also announced that the department will over the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) roll out non-centre based and mobile ECD facilities in rural and informal settlements to ensure that all children are given an early start for a better future.
She further appealed to the corporate sector to join hands with the National Development Agency (NDA) for the Adopt-an-ECD campaign. The purpose of the campaign is to facilitate, advocate and lobby for expanded access to provision of ECD in poor communities.
“The NDA has taken over the responsibility for the overall organisation of the annual South African ECD Awards. These awards are aimed at promoting and recognising excellence, hard work, dedication and investment in the future of our children by individual practitioners, community centres and organisations involved in ECD,” said Minister Dlamini.
More social service professionals
The minister said the department will increase the number of social service professionals, specifically social workers, social auxiliary workers, community development practitioners, and child and youth care workers.
She said her department’s social work scholarship programme continues to bring benefits to the sector. Over 5 200 students currently registered for social work degrees have been awarded scholarships.
“Under the social work programme, 7 794 students have graduated with a social work degree, while 2 921 of these graduates have not been employed. We are committed to ensure that all qualified graduates are employed as part of the priorities of this term of government.”
The department will later this year host a national social work indaba in order to align the development mandate of the profession to support government’s radical socio-economic transformation.
Minister Dlamini said this will go a long way in reclaiming the profession’s progressive position to respond better to the country’s social welfare needs.
“Our ultimate goal is to ensure that we employ one social worker per ward throughout the country, starting with the 1 300 poorest wards prioritised by Cabinet,” she said.
Child headed households
On child and youth care, Minister Dlamini said child and vulnerable youth headed households will remain a central focus during this MTEF period. In the past financial year, great strides have been made in the implementation of the Isibindi Model, the minister said.
The central aspect of this model is the provision of intensive child and youth care centred services to children within their own families and communities.
“We will finalise the child and youth headed households register this financial year. We can only succeed in our pursuit to build a caring society if we know where our children live and what their needs are.”
The minister will this year announce the appointment of a committee to do an assessment of the status of foster care throughout the country.
“The target is to assess 500 000 foster care cases. Our ultimate aim is to ensure that no child falls through the cracks as a result of administrative processes,” she said. – SAnews.gov.za
